Sholay: An Iconic Bollywood Film

Sholay is the most iconic Bollywood movie of all time. There have been several films that are considered great, but in popularity charts Sholay can beat any movie any day.

The Hindi film industry is informally known as Bollywood. The industry is the largest in the world if you consider the volume of production. Bollywood releases about 600- 700 movies a year. Overall India produces around 1000 movies each year. The country has seen so many great films in 100 year of its existence. Pyasa, Awara and Mother India are some of the great feature films of Hindi film industry. In recent years Lagaan and 3 idiots have achieved iconic status due to their content and their popularity. However, no film has seen the craze reserved for Sholay.

Sholay was released in 1973. It was written by writers due of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. Both writers wanted to narrate a story about a retired police officer hiring two thieves to take revenge on a dreaded dacoit. Salim and Javed went to producer G P Sippy with the story idea. The producer liked the idea and hired Salim-Javed to write the script of the movie. Salim-Javed locked themselves in a dingy room and kept writing the script for several days. Once the rough copy was ready they showed it to Sippy who loved the script. The responsibility of direction was given to Ramesh Sippy, the son of G P Sippy.

Initially Shatrughan Sinha was set to play role of Jai. However, due to lobbying Amitabh Bachchan got the role. A new actor Amjad Khan was selected to play the role of villain as senior actor Danny Denzongpa was busy in another shoot.

Sholay was shot in a deserted area in Karnataka. When the movie was released, initially there was hardly good response. Soon, people started to queue outside cinema halls to buy the film tickets. Sooner than later, the movie created a frenzy never seen before. Fans of Sholay were seen mouthing dialogues of the film. The newcomer Amjad Khan became a household name with his first film. People appreciated his powerhouse performance in the movie. He was the only new actor in the movie as others were already established in Bollywood.

Appeal of Sholay remains intact even years after its initial release. Even today when the film is released in smaller towns it generates great response. It has achieved a unique status among all Bollywood movies. With the process of time the iconic status of Sholay has only grown.